Buying into an Ownership Society

The Republicans talk about an ‘ownership society’. The concept is that owners take care of their property. When Jack Kemp says it, it means empowering the poor and middle class to invest and build, simultaneously enriching everybody. When the Bush administration says it, they really means the owner’s society: deforming social security and giving more to the super rich.

Why don’t the politicians start with something relatively simple: like implementing the ownership society in government? The federal budget is incomprehensibly big – what’s another $100 million for a bridge or $10 billion for a weapon? To make things understandable, we should know where our tax dollars are going, what exactly we are buying. Someday, we should be able to choose what we want to ‘own’. Do you want your family's taxes to buy 10 minutes operating costs for a submarine or 6 months salary for a border patrol officer? People might soon ask the real questions, like just who is the sub protecting us from?

This is actually an old idea. Rich Athenians bought triremes for their navy and bought art for public places. Those ships were likely built on budget and the art was probably better than the wall coverings that now pass for public art.